


Find joy in the little things

by Zamietka



Category: Gintama
Genre: Dadtoki, Family, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Joui War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:08:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23928154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zamietka/pseuds/Zamietka
Summary: Amidst the Joui war and the growing hatred for the Amanto and the government, the Shiroyasha finds an abandoned Yato child.
Relationships: Kagura & Sakata Gintoki, Katsura Kotarou & Sakamoto Tatsuma & Sakata Gintoki & Takasugi Shinsuke
Comments: 41
Kudos: 156





	1. Where's the love when you were left on your own?

Gintoki was fuming.

Okay, _maybe_ he did have a bit too much to drink last night. And _maybe_ his companions have, indeed, warned him that they would just leave him behind if he wouldn't have been able to wake up in the morning. They were supposed to move fast after the previous battle, hide well before the enemy could regroup and attack them with the reinforcements out there, in the open field.  
But hey, even he needed a break from time to time. The battles grew in intensity as of late, never giving him the necessary time to rest well anymore; not like he expected anything different, but he had to admit that the role of a ferocious White Demon was getting tiresome. And what better break from it all could there be, other than the glorious daze that the sake could bring? It would be a waste to not drink it, anyway, after some of the villagers from the neighbourhood shared it generously with them last night.

So when his hungover and half-dead self woke up alone on the ground, freezing with the campfire and his tent long gone, it was easy to guess what happened – the other Joui didn't bother taking him along and they simply left him there.

He knew he would catch up to them rather quickly; he knew the exact direction the group was supposed to go to, and there was no convoy and hurt people holding him back. Yet the gesture alone from his so-called friends was pissing him off. His head still hurt as hell, but oh, he was sure he would make the other Joui pay. Somehow.

He marched as quickly as the headache let him, using the battlefield where they fought yesterday as a convenient shortcut. There was not much to look at there; the war, or rather what it left behind in its wake, was never a pretty sight. The terrible weather was not helping the matter; the sky was constantly covered in gray clouds, with a slight mist forming near the ground, and the cold wind was now blowing from the north, scattering the particles of dust around. There was the rusty red of dried blood everywhere, the faint silver glint of steel and the broken armor, the black shapes of the crows, thousands of crows, lurking among the heap of corpses that were already starting to rot, screeching at him passing by and disrupting their peaceful meal.

The usual, post-massacre scene that painted their country way too often, as far as he was concerned.

Suddenly, he noticed something else too – an unnatural flash of pink and orange in the corner of his eye.

A human figure?

A very small human figure.

A child.

There was a child. On the battlefield. Alone. Munching on a dirty rice ball, sitting on a corpse.

Gintoki had to squint, unsure if he wasn't hallucinating. Now that was a disturbingly familiar image, if anything, Shoyo found him in an exact same position after all, years ago. Good to know that after all this time, this country still did not care enough for its people, did not care enough to just… Make children have to steal food from the dead, just to survive.

The Shiroyasha and the kid looked at each other for a while in silence, both confused with meeting another alive soul out there. The girl – 5, maybe 6,7 years old? - had an intense blue stare, a messy and unkempt red hair and a ragged red dress. And she was dirty. Very dirty. She must have spent a while by herself out there, alone. Gintoki blinked himself out of a daze. Right, he should probably do something about... this.

He kept a bit of a distance and crouched down to the same eye level as the child. Surprisingly, she didn't flinch, or tense, she was just standing there with a casual posture, looking at him with... curiosity? Well, he supposed that was a good sign, he wasn't really up for tip-toeing and running around hungover after some odd foundlings.

"Hi," he said awkwardly, trying as hard as possible to make his voice to sound gentle, just like Shoyo’s voice always sounded like; but Gintoki's voice was gruff, used for shouting orders in a battle and picking fights, not for sweet talking random kids. Yeah, he definitely wasn’t meant for this role, but it wasn't like he could just turn back now.

The girl stared at him for a second too long, still busy with munching on a rice ball she must have found on the corpse she was currently sitting on unpeturbed, before gulping loudly and grinning at him, showing off a gap between her teeth. "Hi!" she finally answered, her happy, high-pitched tone highly contrasting with the whole miserable scenery all around her. "Who are you, old man?"

"Oi, I'm not old!" he bridled. What was it with people calling him old all the time?! He just had a bit of an odd hair color, he was still just a teen, prime in his age. "I'm Gin-chan. A soldier. What are you doing here, kid? Are you lost?"

She shook her head no, her mouth stuffed with rice again. Well, that wasn't an answer he expected. He scratched his head in annoyance.

"Ugh. Let me... ask differently. Do you know where your home is?"

At that, she pointed mysteriously at the sky, gulped, and then finally spoke out: "Home is over there! But I was told that I shouldn’t try to go back."

He looked up slowly, with a trail of hope that some kind of a magical castle in the sky will show up between the clouds, where he would be able to drop the kid at, reprimand her parents, and be done with this mess. But of course not, his eyes met just an empty, gray sky, as usual.

"Your parents?" he asked, hopefully, but to his shock, at his words the girl started sniffling. Oh, shit. What does one do when brats start crying, again? He reached out carefully to pat her head, awkwardly, and the kid outright threw herself at his leg, hugging it like a lifeline and bawling, immediately making his pants wet with tears.

"Papi left me here! I don't know where he went! And Mami is... Mami is...." Ugly sobbing and hiccuping got even louder, and Gintoki scrunched his teeth, glad that all that surrounded them were only deaf bodies. He felt like he would be deaf himself soon enough if this wailing continued for much longer.

"Shhh, shhh, I will help you find your Papi again, okay? I promise. So don't cry." He patted her head again gently, because that seemed to be working well so far. Or not, if it made her cry stronger just now. Hard to tell. "There should be a village nearby, so let's leave this dump and ask around for him. No need to use my knee as a tissue, alright?"

"Mm. Okay, Gin-chan..." she sniffled, wiping her snot all over her sleeves. What a mess. Gin helped the girl get up and patted her down from the dirt, to at least make her a bit more presentable.

"You got a name, brat?"

"Mhm. I’m Kagura!" the girl exclaimed proudly.

"Oh? Pretty name for a snotty brat with even more snot all over her face," he teased, hoping it would help the kid to loosen up a little. The girl pouted and stomped angrily with her little foot.

"I’m not snotty!" _Yep,_ Gintoki thought, a bit proud of himself, _seemed like it worked._

"Yes, yes, young lady, Duchess of the Snot." He bowed, and Kagura snickered at that. "Take my hand, and let us go, for a great quest to find your dad," he reached out, and the girl took his hand eagerly, gripping it tightly.

They walked for a while, Kagura humming some kind of silly song under her nose, carefully avoiding the heaps of bodies. The battle here was very brutal, one of the most intense ones Gintoki had partaken in, yet, the girl didn't mind it, like it was something natural for her. He would lie if he said he couldn't partially relate, remembering how indifferent he was towards the dead as a child, until meeting Shoyo... Yet the kid was very social and trusting, unlike him all these years ago. How curious. 

"Hey, brat?"

"Hmm?" the girl chirped, happily.

"Why are you foraging for food out here, instead of asking somebody in the village for help? The poverty hit the area hard, but not so badly to not help a little girl out." They even gave the soldiers some food and sake, despite knowing how dangerous helping the Joui faction was.

"Oh… The humans there don't seem to like Yato. They look at you weirdly and shoo you away."

"Yato...?"

He reminded himself of how the girl pointed at the sky earlier on. Her blue, unnatural eyes. Of course. An Amanto. He facepalmed and groaned. God dammit. His mind was just too groggy to connect the dots earlier.

"I punched a wall and stole their food in revenge!" the girl announced proudly. Gin sighted. He felt so tired of this whole situation already, and it was long from over, it seemed.

"You... probably shouldn't have done that? Although, not gonna lie, I would probably just do the same in your place. Okay brat, change of plans. Wanna come with me and meet my friends? I have an idea where your dad can be, and we’re gonna need some help to get there. Oh, and they should have some food with them, too."

"Really?" Her eyes shone like little stars at the mention of a meal.

"Yep! Some meat, some warm soup. Perfect for a damned weather like this. Come on, let's hurry up."

"Okay!" She followed him compliantly.

"...Aaand you probably shouldn't agree to go with a stranger on a promise of food just like that." Gintoki added, on a second of thought.

"I don't care! I'm strong!" The kid threw her fist up to the sky, like she wanted to punch the clouds away to emphasize her point.

“Mhm. I bet you are." He could believe that. Although it was a rare occurence, he had the courtesy of fighting Yato. Fearsome beasts. Maybe he even fought Kagura’s dad himself. Who even knew how many families were destroyed by this war already? By his hand, by his comrades, by the Amanto, by the government. He sighted. War time was hard for everyone, yet bringing a child in the middle of this mess would definitely not make things any easier.

Kagura's small legs were definitely not meant for long treks like these. Not only Gintoki had to slow his pace for the kid, after half an hour the girl started to slow down noticeably, and after another hour she was visibly tired, shuffling her feet on the ground and yawning. Although the girl stubbornly tried to not show her exhaustion, for whatever reason.

"Oi. You sure you don’t want to rest for a bit?”

"Noooo," she whined miserably in reply.

“How about a piggyback ride?”

“I can still walk!”

His brow twitched. He was getting impatient. "Come on, it could be fun, snot princess. Like riding on a big weird horse.”

"Nooo. You can be the princess. I'm a knight! Princesses are boring.”

"Sure, sure." He rolled his eyes. "I can be the princess, carrying a wounded knight after a big battle. Is that cool enough? Now hop on." He lowered his back, and the kid finally complied, crawling onto his shoulders. "You know, princesses aren't that bad," he found himself chattering. "They can laze in bed, order everybody around and eat parfaits all day long."

Kagura giggled. "Right! Food is nice." She laid her head on his hair comfortably, and then she gasped. "Your hair is so fluffy!"

"Yes, yes, glad you're enjoying yourself up there. Sheesh, you're heavy," he grumbled. Gintoki couldn't help a small shiver. The touch wasn't uncomfortable, not exactly, but... It's been a while since somebody was so close to him, with that sort of delicate touch. Shoyo...

He fastened his pace. They should reach the other Joui around the sunset, hopefully.

***

Kagura fell asleep on his head during the march, just right after they’ve reached the forest area he was looking for.The path was visibly used not too long ago, but it was not as easy to maneuver through as the field earlier, especially with a body on his back. He didn't want the girl to get whacked by a stray branch, even though she was soaking his hair with saliva and weighing him down like a useless sack of rice. His brow twitched. Rice would be much more convenient to have in this situation, at least you can eat it. Little girls, not so much. Probably.

Finally, he could smell the faint smoke from afar. Yeah, about time. Seemed like they were finally close to the new camp location – just in time, it was getting dark already.

"Oi. Wake up." He shook the girl gently. When he heard her fidget and yawn, he added: "Time to greet some weird people and enamor them with your cute looks, so they are willing to help you and me find your Papi. Got it?”

"Mmhmm," Kagura answered drowsily, rubbing her eyes. "What are your friends like? Are they nice?"

"Eh. They are mostly just pretty dumb. And loud. But nice enough. You can think of them like, hmm,” he thought for a second, thinking of a good comparison. “...like a big dumb family that constantly bickers with each other, but overall means well. We will probably meet that dumb family’s mom first."

"Gintoki!" The familiar taut voice was suddenly heard from afar.

"Aaand yep, here we go. That’s the mom," Gintoki muttered to Kagura, and soon enough, the long-haired man, The Rampaging Noble in the flesh, showed up from the nearby bushes, stern look on his face.

"Gintoki! Why did it take you so long to get here? I told you to leave that sake alone but of course you- what is that?" The man pointed at the small figure attached to the White Demon's back, peeking at him from behind the shoulder curiously.

"Who, Zura, who. Don't be mean. Amanto or no Amanto, it's just a kid,” Gintoki greeted in a lazy tone, met with a shocked gasp, but he just kept looking the other one straight in the eyes. “Found her on my way here. Nobody sane would leave a child alone like that.”

"Yes, yes, you are right, but bringing an Amanto here, to the Joui camp... and it's Katsura, not Zura.”

"It's Kagura, not Katsura!" the child suddenly piped up, happily.

"It's Katsura, not... oh, your name is Kagura?" Katsura asked, softly, and the girl nodded and grinned at him. "Wow, you are so adorable, little one," he sighted, turning his head back to the other man. " Did she get lost?"

"Seems like her dad just up and left her there," Gintoki answered half-mindlessly, busy with digging through the contents of his nose.

"Well, I suppose... We may try to work something out... Maybe earlier on with our trusted men only, but this is such a bad timing, too."

"What's up?"

"Some new recruits showed up when you were asleep, from the same village that borrowed us some food and sake. They heard that we won the battle, and they were eager to join the warfare. We still aren't sure if they aren't spies or anything of the sort, but...” He shook his head. “We need manpower. We just simply cannot let the chance to get new units slip by. But they certainly won't like the idea of a cocky teenager, even if he is the legendary Shiroyasha, just bringing an Amanto child in the middle of a specifically anti-Amanto group. They might even try to hurt her."

"Oh? Let them try. If someone feels like hurting innocent children, Amanto or not, I'm not sure if they are on the right side of the war," Gintoki growled.

"You know it's not that simple." Katsura started pacing around.

"What is hard to understand here? Choosing between letting a kid starve and hurting it, or simply choosing not to do so?"

"You're just refusing to look at the bigger picture some people have, as you usually do, Gintoki.”

"Gin-chan," Kagura butted in, shaking his shoulder. "Can you two stop talking already? I’m hungry. You told me there would be food." The silver-permed samurai threw a questioning look at Katsura, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, right... Just... You two stay here for a bit. Don’t show at the camp just yet. I will bring Tatsuma and Takasugi, and we can decide together what to do then."

“Mhm. Sounds good,” Gintoki nodded and settled himself on the ground, seating Kagura in his lap. But the girl’s sight was still focused on the dark-haired man in front of her.

"Please bring us food!" Kagura whined pleadingly.

"Yeah, bring something warm to eatfor both me and her, preferably. I had to carry this brat nearly all the way over here." Katsura just nodded and turned on his heel to go back to the camp. While his back was turned around, he could still hear the duo squabbling.

"Hey, stop calling me a brat already!"

"Gremlin. Goblin. Baby gorilla. Better?"

"No! You old man! Grandpa Gin!"

"Oi! We've been over this! I’m not old!" the sound of girl sticking out a tongue at the mighty White Demon made Katsura smile under his nose. It reminded him of how he, Gin and Takasugi would act as kids. Like siblings. It was rare to hear such childish, lighthearted dialogue like that in the harsh times they all found themselves living in.

***

"What the fuck did you bring in here this time, Gintoki?!" Gintoki looked up disinterested at the Kihetai captain marching quickly towards him, his fist tightened and an angry glint in his eyes.

"What, are you blind now? Here, take a closer look. Congratultions! That's a kid!" he stretched his arms with the girl still in his hold right in front of Takasugi's face, who was visibly shaking in rage, brely holding himself together.

"And why, just _why_ would you think that bringing an Amanto kid to the center of the Joui camp was a good idea?!"

At that, Kagura, still in Gintoki's arms, for some reason decided to straight up stick out the tongue right at the Kihetai's leaders face. _Holy shit_ , Gintoki thought. _What an appropriate reaction to that emo pipsqueak._ The kid could read people well.

Takasugi outright growled, looking ready to start a fight, but Sakamoto's laugh dissipated the atmosphere as he threw his arm over Takasugi's neck, slightly pushing him away and taking a closer look at the Yato girl.

"It will be fine! We've seen some Yato around already, we know what we are dealing with. Hey there, little cutie! I'm Tatsuma, and this guy here is Takasugi. No need to be scared of us, this guy is just always angry for some reason."

"I'm Kagura! I'm not scared. I'm strong!"

"Yes, Tatsuma, we've seen some Yato around. Just, you know, ready to obliterate you on sight at best."

"But they wouldn't kill one of their own kind. Probably." Katsura mused, two bowls of fresh soup in his hands that he handed to the starving duo, to the girl’s visible joy.

"Hey, Kagura,” Gintoki poked the girl’s cheek to catch her attention. “You think you would be able to recognize your dad from... afar?" Kagura nodded, busy with inhaling her food. "Good. As you can probably tell by now... your kind and us don't really like each other very much. But we're still gonna help you, alright?"

"Gintoki, what are you planning?”

"Sneaking to the Amanto base, obviously, to see if the Yato tribe and her dad is somewhere around.”

"That's just suicide! Wouldn't it be better to just drop her there and let the Amanto deal with this shit?” Takasugi spat.

"I don't trust these ruthless killers to just not sell the problem off to the space slave market or some shit. No, I'm finding her dad face to face, like I promised, and then convince him to take a better care of his kid. That's just what I'm gonna do. I bet Shoyo would do the same thing."

"Don't bring Sensei into that bullshit logic of yours," Takasugi warned with a snarl.

"Or what?" Gintoki raised his eyebrows with a challenge in his voice.

"Haha, calm down you two! Let's just sleep this through and decide tomorrow, alright?"

"Tch. fine." Takasugi turned around and left the clearing as quickly as possible, the others following him with their eyes in silence.

"I don't like him." Kagura muttered under her nose. Gintoki sighed.

"Me neither, brat. You done with that soup already?"

"I'm still hungry," she whined in response. "Zura-chan, do you have more?"

"It's Katsura, Gintoki, don't make her learn your weird nicknaming habits. And no, sorry. I'm afraid nothing would be left of it at this time." The Yato’s eyes glistened with tears at that information. Gintoki wasn’t sure if she was really that hungry or just pretending to be, to pull at his heartstrings even more than she already did today.

“Gah, fine, stop looking like that..” He gave up anyway, handing his bowl to her. “Here, you can finish my portion.” Kagura let out a happy squeal at that and literally threw herself at his food. Geez. That kid was honestly starving if food made her _that_ happy.

And as problematic as it was? In the end, he was kind of glad that he drank all that sake yesterday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea what I'm doing as usual lmao. Should I continue this? I have a lot of ideas for this but the premise is a bit weird in itself and I'm not an experienced writer by any means and multichapter fics seem harad to do and hgfkjd guess we will see


	2. Now you know me, and I'm not afraid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some people will appreciate a Yato child's presence, and some won't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks everyone who left all these nice comments and kudos, I didn't expect that, I love u all ;-; here comes more of this thing then yay

After the sun had set, they managed to get to Gintoki's tent safely, without much of a commotion. Even though some of the Joui soldiers scattered around threw them some careful glances, they were more curious than unfriendly. The fame of the Shiroyasha had at least rendered Gintoki a dose of respect and trust in his decisions, it seemed. 

The tent was just a loose cloth supported by the sticks and branches found nearby - nothing fancy, but it was blending nicely with the surroundings and could shelter well enough from the rain and the wind. Today, not only had Sakamoto brought them some extra covers for the night - the winter was coming and the nights have been very cold lately - Gintoki also allowed himself to light a small fire in front of the tent, providing him and Kagura with the much-needed warmth. It was usually too risky to have such a luxury out in the open field, but here in the forest, and given how foggy it was, it should be barely noticeable for the enemy. _Might as well use that terrible weather for something nice_ , the samurai reasoned with himself, yawning loudly.

While Kagura was busy with doodling something intensely on the ground next to the fire with a stick, Gintoki slowly took off his armor and shoes. He carefully stretched and massaged his sore muscles, groaning, suddenly feeling very old and tired, like the war added at least twenty years extra to his life. He needed to rest.

"Oi, brat, stop messing around and go to sleep already. Gin-chan is tired."

"Just one moment!" Kagura pleaded, and Gin relented with a sigh. Sitting cross-legged on his bedding, he rests his head on his hand and contented himself to watching the small flame burn and listened to the silent scribbling on the ground. He could just ignore the girl and go to sleep - even though she was a mouthy and problematic brat, she seemed relatively obedient. But he still didn’t know this kid that well. If there was a chance she could wander off, bored, and raise hell in the camp… Well, he definitely did not need that sort of a problem. He yawned. Scribble, scribble, scribble. He was slowly starting to doze off…

"Look, it's you!" Kagura exclaimed suddenly, making him jerk. He blinked blearily at the kid, whose chest was puffed proudly as she pointed at the ground. The samurai leaned forward, actually a bit curious. The drawing was... pretty bad, to say the least, not that he expected anything else from the poor material it was made on and the artistic abilities a kid her age could have, but Gintoki had to admit that he did feel a little touched by her gesture.

"Thanks," he huffed, messing Kagura's hair affectionately. "But I'm so much more handsome than that. Boo." 

She swatted at his hand, pouting. "You just don't understand art."

"Yes, yes, I'm a simple man, I just want to eat and sleep and shit. Come on Kagura, it's getting late."

"Okaaay."

He dragged his feet back to the bedding. His sword was already there, waiting for him like a trusted old friend. After making sure Kagura actually obediently quieted down next to him, making herself comfortable under the covers, safe and within his reach, he laid down too. He hugged his sword, his back turned to the fire, curled in a fetal position, just like he always did. He closed his eyes.

Something tickled his nose and touched his arm, making him flinch, surprised. Looking down, red eyes met the blue ones, staring at him innocently. Kagura made herself comfortable under his blanket, hugging his arm like a teddy bear, sticking her messy hair right into his face.

"Oi, what are you doing? Go sleep over there." He pointed with his head at the place where the girl was lying just a second ago.

"It's more comfy here! And warmer."

"No."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"You stink."

"You stink too!"

"I snore."

"And I snore harder!"

"Ughhh." _What a pain._ "Fineee. But if you dare to bother my beauty sleep, I'm kicking you outside," he grumbled.

"Mean," the girl huffed, but smiled contently anyway and snuggled closer to him. He could feel the body warmth radiating from her small body. On one hand, it was pretty comfortable like that. On the other…

He didn't like the idea. Anybody's presence this close made him feel unsafe. His sleeping was light, cautious of the dangers lurking in the outside world. Knowing himself, he might as well wake up too confused to remember all that happened today and aim his sword at the kid. But…

"Goodnight, Gin-chan!"

If the kid was already this attached to a stranger like him... She must have felt really, really lonely. 

No people to talk to, no people to hold you. Missing cuddling with her dad and wishing him a good sleep every evening. Alone, on a foreign planet. She was a really strong kid who tried to show that it didn't bother her, but still - just a kid. He just couldn't outright refuse her. He would just hope that nothing bad would happen tonight because of his own stupidity.

"G'night, brat."

He held his sword tighter, and slowly fell asleep, with Kagura snoring quietly on his side.

***

 _He pierced, he cut, he slashed._ The endless hordes of the enemies, litres of blood spilling around, filling his nostrils and lungs, choking him, filling his mouth with the nauseating iron taste. Blood of his own, blood of his enemies, and blood of the dead, failed by a sword of a demon, who could only kill, and kill,  
and never protect?

A gurgling noise escapes his throat. He can't breathe, and now he realizes it's not blood. It's smoke.

The Shoka Sonjuku burned, blazing fire entrapping him and the other nameless faces inside the school. The flame touches his skin, engulfs him, burns, burns, burns, and he screams in pain.

A firm touch at his shoulder.

He woke up with the start. Jumped away from the touch. Sword out.

"Gin-chan." A small voice with a small bit of annoyance reached him from the darkness.

_Oh. Right. Kagura._

He hid his sword with a shaky breath. Blue eyes were shining in the dark and looking at him intensely. No fear in them, just a slight irritation… and worry?

"Don't scare me like that, geez," he found himself blabbering, as he settled down back to the ground. He groaned. It was still dark out, night sounds coming from outside. He hated nightmares. They were so useless, making him lose his much-needed rest for no reason at all.

"Are you okay?" Kagura asked him sheepishly.

"Yes, yes," he grumbled, rubbing his tired eyes. "Just a dumb dream. No need to fret over something like that."

"You were really loud. Are you going to kick me out now?"

"...What?"

"You said so earlier. That I shouldn’t wake you up."

"Oh. Nah, no need to take Gin-chan's words that seriously." He yawned. "Can we go back to sleep now?"

Kagura was silent, still visibly worried, but she returned to their previous position obediently, clinging to his arm more tightly, almost protectively. He watched her quickly doze off, her silent breaths somehow ringing in his ears loudly. He rolled his eyes at himself. Good job Gintoki, making a kid fret over you rather the other way around, as it should be. He wriggled a little, making himself more comfortable, as the kid's hold on his arm was a bit too strong for his liking, and then he quickly drifted off to a light, dreamless sleep.

***

"Shiroyasha-san."

The fate would not let Gintoki rest, it seemed. He blinked and looked up blearily in the direction of the voice. A soldier showed up at the entrance. It took his sleepy mind a moment to recall who that was exactly. One of the scout team.

"Mm. What is it?" he grumbled. He noticed that it was still night out, although the sky was slightly brightening in the east.

The soldier kept throwing curious glances at the sleeping child next to the White Demon, but said no word, apparently having more concerning tasks on mind.

"We have noticed a pretty big group of Amanto troops moving toward us from their nearest station. They are closer than we expected, and seems like they might know our location. Probably getting ready to attack at dawn."

Shit. That was way too soon.

"Do we have enough time to move everyone out of here and hide?" They still had a lot of hurt people after their last battle. And these new recruits Katsura mentioned yesterday wouldn't be able to hold much of a fight. Better to keep them on the sidelines for now, too.

"No, I'm afraid not."

"Best to attack them first, then. Inform everyone."

"Yes, sir."

Gintoki rose to his feet immediately, equipping his armor quickly in a well-trained habit. Kagura was still deep asleep; he was almost sorry he had to wake her up. He shook her arm harshly.

"Oi, brat. Get up. It's important." She blinked sleepily at him in response, and then she closed her eyes again, turning her head away with a miserable whine, trying to ignore the nuisance that was his unwanted presence. But it was too urgent. Gin took Kagura's hand and dragged the sleepy girl forcefully to the nearby thick bushes. Thankfully she was very small and not easily noticeable there. He crouched down to get to the same eye-level as the girl and placed his hands on her shoulders firmly.

"Hey. Hey, look at me!" When the girl, wobbling on her legs in a sleepy state, finally looked at him a bit more consciously, he continued. "I need to go. Hide here, wait until I'll be back. And don't come out!"

"Where are you going...?"

He cringed involuntarily. "To fight."

"Can you take me with you?"

"No. I told you, stay here and hide," he repeated in a stern voice. He tried to turn away, but the girl grabbed at his sleeve.

"I can help you fight! I'm of a warrior race! Take me with you!" 

"Hey, I know you can fight. The point is," he patted her head, "that you don't have to. This is not your war, and you are just a little kid. A kid who shouldn't spill unnecessary blood, Yato, or human."

"Why are you allowed to spill blood, then?" 

A small sigh escaped his lips. "By fighting, I'm trying to protect something very important."

"Let me protect you then! Take me with you!"

"Geez, Kagura..." He scratched his head, not sure how to follow on that. Why was she so insistent on going with him, anyway? "You can protect me by staying safe here, alright? And I will try my damn best to stay alive and come back to you, with no gremlin to look after on the battlefield."

Kagura sniffled, but nodded, and let go of his sleeve. Gintoki patted her head one last time, and then…

He was gone.

_***_

They've managed to hold off the hordes of enemies, but it was not easy.

Gintoki's mind kept wandering off, thoughts coming back to the camp on their own, the image of a sad Yato girl clinging to his sleeve burned into his memory. And distractions in a fight were never a good thing. It took one wrong move, and he allowed the enemy to badly slash at his leg. One wrong, dumb move to be rendered almost useless for at least few days. He managed to retaliate quickly and hold off a few more Amanto; he would never let anything like that hold him back too easily. 

When the enemy finally retreated, he stood there for a while, panting. Fresh blood was still dripping from his sword. His clothes were dirty, his leg shaking and staining the pants around the wound red. He must have been a scary sight in that state - truly a White Demon everyone thought him to be, and he couldn't help but wonder yet again why a demon like him ended up taking care of a little girl. He made a quick makeshift bandage over his leg - the wound definitely needed stitches, but it would do for now. Then, as fast as the injury let him, he rushed back to where he was needed.

Katsura's observant eye obviously noticed his gaunt limping form from afar. Katsura's squad, always well-versed in defence, often ended up helping the injured men on the front lines, having much less injuries on their side. Gintoki didn't feel like he needed their help as much as the other wounded people, though. When Katsura tried to take off his weight from the weak leg and help him walk, he just shrugged his arm off.

“Geez, I can still walk, you worrywart. You should take care of the others, first.”

“Gintoki, you need to avoid straining that leg, it looks pretty bad,” Katsura insisted. “Besides, I'm sure you want it to heal quickly, don't you?”

Gintoki tsked, but of course Katsura was right. He had to continue fighting and get that annoying brat back to her dad somehow.

“You seem worried. The Kihetai went ahead already, Takasugi will be back there quickly to take care of things, in case something went wrong at the camp.”

Gintoki just grumbled something incomprehensive in response.

“I know you two well enough. Takasugi had his own concerns for a reason yesterday, but that doesn't mean he would let anyone harm a single hair on her head, alright?”

“Hopefully. If not, I will personally harm him and make him bald.”

He allowed Katsura to help him walk and take the weight off of his bad leg. He leaned on a side of his friend, deep inside thankful for his support, and they went back to the camp together.

***

Kagura could be patient when she wanted. She kept still for one hour where Gin-chan left her. One hour! That would definitely be an achievement and enough of waiting for everyone else before they would grow tired of it.

Besides, she was worried. She liked that gruff, silver-haired human that promised to help her. And she wasn’t stupid - she knew that the Earth was at war now, and from what she saw when she was looking around for food, the corpses were mauled pretty badly.

She had to know if Gin-chan was safe. What if he was bleeding out somewhere, alone, with no one to help him?

She didn’t want anybody to be alone.

She moved, but as soon as she left the thick cover of the bush, she could feel something yanking her by the collar of her dress. She wriggled, trying to let herself free.

“Hey, what is a kid like you doing here?” A rough voice in her ear made her shiver slightly, and then she was met with a face of a human. He definitely didn’t look nice. 

“Let me go!” she shouted at the stranger angrily. But he ignored her, and as usual, as soon as a human noticed her eye color, his demeanor shifted. “Your eyes…” Kagura squeezed her eyes shut at that moment, but she could feel her eyelids being forcefully opened, as the human took a closer look at her face in the dark. “Amanto!” She heard a hateful hiss.

Then, Kagura did the only thing any kid in her situation would do.

She twisted her neck and bit down at the fingers in front of her eye. Hard. And Yato could bite really hard when they wanted.

The pained shriek ringed through the area, and she could feel the metallic taste in her mouth.  
“Let. Me. Go!” she growled in between her teeth. She trashed, she kicked, she sputtered. But the human was persistent and still would not let her go!

Soon his screams attracted more unwanted attention from the other humans that seemed to linger around the area. She could feel the hateful glances thrown at her, angry scraps of their chatter filling her ears.

“An Amanto? Here?”

“Holy shit, man, your finger!”

“We should tie it down, and let the commanders take care of it.”

Kagura _hated_ Earth. She wanted her Mami back. She wanted Papi to be here. She wanted Gin-chan. Anyone.

“Let me go,” she whined, literally begging now, feeling the tears prickle at the corner of her eyes. But her plea was obviously ignored. The humans didn’t consider someone like her worthy of any sort of compassion. She learned that lesson long ago.

“Have you seen these commanders? They are just teenagers! If we don’t take care of things ourselves, this war will definitely be a failure on our side. We should kill it right away.”

Some murmurs of agreement made her heart beat faster in panic. The circle of humans started to close on her. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what to do!

Kagura was really, really scared at that instant. 

She squeezed her eyes shut.

"Hey. Leave that kid alone.” Someone’s commandeering voice broke through the crowd. Kagura opened one eye, unsurely. To her surprise, it was that rude, short guy from yesterday. Gin-chan's "family".

“Takasugi-san! That’s not a kid! It’s a monster! It just bit somebody’s finger off, for fuck’s sake!”

"I would bite your heads off in self-defense if I could, too” the Kihetai commander spat, walking over to them at a fast pace. “Do you commoners think this war is a game? Kill and hurt as many as you can? What do you think is this fight for?"

"To kill all these damned Amanto who plague our country, obviously," the same guy answered, boldly.

"It's against the Bakufu, moron. Not the innocents who can’t fight back." He raised his voice. "If anyone else feels like this guy, you can leave my sight right away and not come back. We don't condone that behavior here. I will deal with the rest of you lot later.”

After the recruits let go of the child and dispersed in silence, only a few of them throwing him angry gazes, Takasugi found himself with an unwanted baggage at his leg.

"Go away.” He kicked at Kagura, but she held onto his leg with a tremendous Yato strength. “Let go! I’m not your nanny, unlike that white-haired freak.”

“But you helped.” She looked up hopefully at him with her wide blue eyes.

“Don't want to hear the other three idiots yapping at me if I didn't,” he spat, turning his head away from her sight. “Now leave me alone.”

Thankfully, he didn't have to repeat himself because soon they both saw the silver-haired perm entering the clearing, leaning on Katsura’s side, and the red-hair rushed over and tackle-hugged his leg, almost making him stumble.

“Hey, careful! What are you doing here? Tch, you almost made me fall over.” Despite his annoyed tone Gintoki found the corner of his lips curving up slightly. He was glad to see that the kid was alright.

"Yes, be careful, little one, his other leg is hurt pretty badly,” Katsura scolded, gently, trying to pry off the girl away from Gin, but she just hid her face and tightened her grip. Just then they’ve noticed that Kagura was shaking slightly.

"I told you her presence would only make trouble." Takasugi interrupted their little reunion, his arms crossed as he leaned his back on the nearby tree.

"What do you mean?"

"Your little walking problem just attacked someone and - apparently - bit someone’s finger off. Good luck explaining that to the other people."

"I did not! They tried to hurt me, first!" The girl objected to that in a shaky voice.

"They did?" Gintoki inquired. Kagura nodded. "Did they find your hiding place?"

"...I went after you."

"What?!” The girl avoided his sight after hearing his harsh tone. “What do you think you were doing? I told you to hide, dammit!" Gintoki was pissed, to say the least. His leg hurt like hell, he was exhausted after the battle, and now this problem. He sure hoped there was a good explanation for it.

"You said to not treat your words too seriously. You did! Last night." And that sure was not a good explanation for this.

"Not like that, dammit! Do I seriously have to spell every little thing to you?" He threw his arms into the air hopelessly.

"No…"

"So what exactly is your problem, brat?"

"Gintoki, calm down," Katsura warned.

"I just didn't want you to leave, too!" Kagura suddenly grabbed at his sleeve desperately with her small hands. "Please don't leave me! I will be good now!"

He sighed. That… actually made a lot of sense. Maybe he was a little bit too harsh for someone who was literally abandoned miles away from home, in the middle of a dumb war that a kid her age couldn’t completely comprehend. And who knows what happened to the rest of her family, anyway. He brushed away the tears that started forming at the corner of the girl's eyes with his hand. "I'm sorry. But I said that I'm not going anywhere 'till I find your dad, remember? But it's dangerous out there, and I can't keep you at my side all the time, so you have to listen to me at times like this. I will always be back, okay? Can you trust me?"

“Okay…” She hugged his leg tighter, rendering him immobile again.

“Hmm, what a nice dad our almighty Shiroyasha has become,” Takasugi, who was still standing nearby, commented off-handedly with contempt, Gintoki reddening slightly at the comment.

“Shut up! Nothing wrong about that, at least I don’t scare children off with their glare alone, dear Leader of Army of Demon Soldiers. What kind of shitty name is that, again?”

“I think Army of Demon Soldiers sounds pretty cool,” Kagura piped up at that.

"Eh?" Gintoki gawked at her in disbelief.

Takasugi allowed himself a smug look for a split second, before turning back and walking away from them in silence.

“Hey, don’t leave in the middle of an argument like you just won! Kagura, why would you take that midget's side all of the sudden?”

“You shouted at me just now. Revenge,” the kid huffed at him.

“The audacity! The nerve! Such betrayal. And to think I trusted you in the war against the Takasugi emo forces,” he exclaimed in answer, in a theatrically offended tone. The hurt leg decided to remind about itself at that moment, pain flaring up stronger, making him hiss.

"Okay, you two, stop the theatrics. Gintoki definitely needs to go to the medic and have his leg taken care of," Katsura said, seeing his friend's face scrunched in pain. "Want to come with us, Kagura-chan? It won't be a pretty sight, though.”

“Will they have food there?”

“No.”

“Dammit!”

Gintoki's eye twitched at the sound of a swear, but hey, who was he to correct her foul mouth? Whatever image Takasugi made up in that small brain of his, he was not her parent to take care of that problem. Didn’t seem like Katsura had the same restraint, because he outright gasped at the wording, and scorned the girl right away.

“You should not say words like that out loud! It’s not proper for a young girl like you!”

“My Papi says them all the time, though! And Gin-chan does, too.”

“Hey!” Katsura swatted at the silver-haired perm.

“What?!” Gintoki objected, massaging his scalp with an annoyed look. “I can’t even say swears now? Do I get a personal swear jar just because I have that gremlin walking behind me everywhere?”

“Yes, you do. Man up, Gintoki. It’s not that hard to hold off a swear or two in front of Kagura-chan.”

“Screw off, Zura!”

“It’s Katsura!”

Takasugi was watching them for a while from afar, and then decided that he might as well go deal with some other, more interesting business. A loud crash and grinning Sakamoto’s face suddenly popped up in front of him, his hair full of leaves and sticks. Was this moron seriously hiding on a tree just now?

“Yo, Takasugi. Nice save out there. You sure showed these recruits who is the boss here!” As the other laughed jovially, a realisation dawned on the Kihetai leader, and his eyes widened.

“ _You_ were there? Hiding in the tree like a monkey all this time? You could have intervened then, instead of me!”

“I would, but I thought your reaction would be more fun, haha. And it was! The fearsome Takasugi Shinsuke, with a cute baby clinging to his leg!”

For a second he was speechless at the nerve of that space-obsessed moron, and then his face stretched into his signature smile.

“...I think you really, _really_ want to see that fearsome Takasugi Shinsuke up close, don’t you?”  


Sakamoto gulped loudly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so ye Sakamoto is dead
> 
> btw if you like my doodles - I dump some more random gintama doodlse on my tumblr and twitter sometimes if you feel like looking for them, I have the same nickname everywhere \o.o/


	3. Dragons and Nobles Make for Surprisingly Good Babysitters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The other Joui taking care of the little Yato.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok how did this thing get 100 kudos gjhffd thanks

"Well, this is gonna need stitches, just as I thought. Hold on." When the trio made it to the medical tent Katsura carefully inspected Gintoki's wound, pretty deep and still slightly bleeding. 

"Woah. Gross," Kagura said in a grim fascination, leaning closer and staring at an open wound while Katsura was busy rummaging through their medical supplies. Gintoki raised his eyebrows at the gaping girl.

"You can look away, you know. Having an alien kid stare at my flesh isn't very comfortable for me either. Zura, should little girls even be allowed to look at wounds like that? They shouldn't be, right?"

"It's Katsura. I'm sure she saw worse things already, right, Kagura-chan?" Kagura nodded.

"One time Kamui beat up some people reaaally hard. Oh, and the corpses had crows digging into their brains too. Ew."

Gintoki was patched up rather quickly. While the silver-haired samurai limped to his place "just to take a small nap", as he said, Katsura took the small girl to the side quickly and whispered to her:

"Hey, hey, Kagura-chan, I actually have a very important task for you." She looked at him with her big blue eyes, blinking curiously. "Can you coerce Gintoki into taking these?" Katsura took out the small container she saw earlier in the medical tent.

"What are these?"

"Some painkillers, and sleep aid. He always refuses to take them. Dumbass." Katsura rolled his eyes. "But we both know he needs to rest. And our white demon has a soft spot for you." He bopped Kagura on her nose, and she giggled, but then, she frowned slightly. "Gin-chan had nightmares last night. Will these help too?"

"Well, I hope so. Make him rest and don't wander off anywhere, I will come by in a bit, okay?" Katsura pushed her away gently in the direction of Gin, who seemed to be waiting for her to catch up a bit further down the path.

"Okay!" She offered, and trotted off to her caretaker, holding the medicine close to her chest.

"What's that?" Gintoki asked her immediately as she got closer, squinting suspiciously at the girl, but she only shook her head.

"You need rest first!" she trotted ahead, not giving him the room to complain, and he relented with a sigh.

When Gintoki was finally lying on his bedding, his leg outstretched, Kagura placed the package in his lap. 

"Sleep medicine? Where did you get that?"

"Zura-chan told me to "coerce" you into taking it," Kagura explained, slowly.

Gintoki snorted. "That worrywart." 

"He said you need the rest," she whined in response. "And I agree!"

"Now I have two mother hens fretting over me, great. And one of them so small they can barely reach my waist." Noticing the girl still pouting at him, he added softly: "Hey, it's really okay. I'm used to it. We need to save the medicine, the other soldiers are gonna need it more than me. And I will just take a nice nap now and I will be like a newborn child, you will see."

"...But you don't sleep well." Kagura noticed. Gintoki rolled his eyes.

"We are at war, kiddo. Nobody sleeps well here," he commented dismissively, and started picking his nose out of habit. Then he noticed how intensely Kagura was staring at him with her big blue eyes in silence. "Um. Was that a bit too dark?"

"..." She would not answer, still pouting, with a piercing gaze focused on his face.

"I'm sorry?" 

"…" He waved in front of her face, trying to get out any sort of reaction, but to no avail. He huffed angrily.

"Stop looking at me like that, you gremlin."

He lied on his side, closing his eyes, turning his back to Yato, yet he could swear the intense stare was almost physically hurting him. He finally relented.

"Okay, okay, I will take your stupid pills, alright?!" he yelped, annoyed, swatting the medicine out of the girl's grasp. He gave up on this fight way too quickly, he thought, gulping down the bitter pills. But how could he refuse these puppy eyes? How? They held too much power.

***

Katsura came by in a bit, just as he promised, noticing a totally knocked down Gintoki, deep in slumber, and Kagura sitting beside him obediently, playing with the silver hair and making the perm even more messy than it usually was. He smiled at the sight.

"Good job!" Kagura beamed. "Let him sleep, for now. This guy always pretends to be the toughest nail in the shed, but he lost a lot of blood and needs to recover."

"Mhm. But now I'm bored," she complained.

Katsura took the free moment to look over the girl in scrutiny. He had already noticed earlier - she looked hideous! Greasy, unkempt hair, her dress all torn and stained... Gintoki could have at least brushed her hair a bit, if he decided to pick up little strange girls all of a sudden.

"We should really do something about this messy hair of yours." The girl shot him a distrustful look. "What do you say we go wash it up a little bit?"

" ...I don't like water."

"Come on, Kagura-chan, it will be fun! You can help me pick some special flowers to make your hair smell nice. And after it dries we can braid each other's hair and put flowers in them! Do you know how to braid, Kagura-chan?" He stood up and reached out his hand to the girl.  
Kagura looked at sleeping Gin's face, like she looked for some sort of a confirmation, and then she nodded in agreement, squeezing the long haired samurai's hand. Katsura smiled. There was a small clean river nearby to get the water from, and he spotted the soapwort plant on the riverbank that could work wonders in fights against greasy hair. 

The river area looked much different from their usual surroundings. The war front was gloomy and the forests were thick with foliage, yet here the area was much more open and colorful, the small meadow with the patches of flowers looking almost otherworldly. Kagura let out the small gasp of awe and immediately started running around the flowery patch, giggling happily. Katsura got to work with the soapwort roots, trying to keep an eye on her. The girl acted almost like she's never been in a place like this before; she was dancing with the pink flowers, smelling them, picking them up. She also braided some into Katsura's hair at one point - apparently her mom taught her that already, and Katsura felt a pang of disappointment knowing that he won't be the one to teach the little girl fun hair tricks.

His disappointment was quickly replaced with shock when Kagura decided to eat some of the flowers she found, and her new caretaker had to forcefully drag her away from them. She might be knowing cool hair tricks already at her age, but she definitely wasn't taught the basics of self-perseverance.

When the water was warmed up with hot rocks from the fireplace, Katsura ordered the girl to sit still and bend her head over.

"Close your eyes just in case, okay?"

"Mmm."

Despite that, the girl kept whining and trying to move away from the stream of water as soon as it started pouring over her head, and Katsura had to hold her in place, which was not as simple as it looked. The girl was definitely a Yato with her monstrous strength.

"Can you stop squirming? It's just water! Honestly," he scolded gently.

"But it feels baaad," she whined.

"We are almost done! You will soon feel the joy the clean hair can bring."

"Cleanliness is overrated."

"...Did Gintoki tell you that? I know that he did. Please don't listen to him. Before you realize, you will start eating your own boogers in front of everyone." A shiver of disgust went through Katsura as he started massaging the girl's scalp gently, trying to untie all the knots along the way.

"I already do! Wanna see?"

"No, no, no. I have enough of full hands dealing with Gintoki's boogers everywhere they shouldn't be. Please let yours stay in your nose where they belong."

"You're boring."

"I'm not boring, I'm Katsura." He flushed the hair again to the girl's obvious distaste. "See, all done! Now you are finally gonna look like a kid, not a bog monster." The girl shot him a miserable look from under her wet bangs.

"I'd rather be a bog monster."

"But why? Your hair is so pretty! Such a unique color too, you should treasure it!"

"Your hair is prettier."

"Ahaha, you've noticed? I use a special conditioner!" Katsura brushed his hair off of his face with a smug smile. "So what do you want to do now while your hair dries? Play some cards? I can teach you how to play Uno."

"Boooring."

"Hey hey, Zura! Kagura-chan!" A shout from above greeted them, and they both looked up to see Sakamoto sprawled on a tree branch above them.

"It's Katsura. Why are you hiding on a tree again?"

"Just staying out of sight from this one person, you know how it is, haha. And I like heights! It's almost like flying." A realization came over him. "Kagura-chan! You flew here!" The girl seemed confused at that.

"I don't know how to fly. Would be cool though."

"No, I mean on a ship, silly!" he laughed. "I always wanted to fly up to the stars," he said dreamily.

"Well, Tatsuma, while you are here, maybe you want to humour our girl a little bit? She insists that I'm too boring," he almost sounded hurt at that. " I'm gonna check on Gintoki for a bit.

"Sure, sure, ahaha!" He patted Katsura on his back. "So," he began with a playful glint, "you said you would like to fly, huh?" 

Before she could answer, he grabbed the girl and raised her high up in the air as she let out a confused squeal.

"Haha, look! You are flying!"

"I'm flying!" She quickly caught up to the new game and started making silly airplane noises, Tatsuma running around the clearing with her in his arms.

"Aaand now it's time to land. I hope you enjoyed our aviation services," he placed her on the ground and made a deep bow. Kagura grabbed his waist at that.

"And now it's your turn!"

"...Eh?"

"To fly!" 

"Ahaha, you can't possibly… Ahaha, wow!" The girl raised him up clumsily and started running with him in her grasp just like he did before.

"Now you're flying!"

"I'm flying! Ahaha! Plplplprrrrr."

After running around like crazy around the clearing, they both were out of breath and resting lazily on a tree branch, when Katsura showed up again.

"I'm back. Gintoki is still deep asleep; that's good I suppose, but we still have a whole day of taking care of his little problem." He raised his eyebrows at the Yato girl, occupied with watching ants on the ground, ready to intervene in case the little rascal had a brilliant idea to try eating them too.

"Hey hey, Zura! I have an idea. Come here for a second." Sakamoto waved at him to come closer and started whispering something into Katsura's ear passionately, Kagura looking at the two on the side curiously.

Katsura blinked at the words. "What is it with you bullying Takasugi as of lately? That's Gintoki's job."

"No, no, listen, it's perfect! Takasugi takes care of the little Miss Yato, we get to chill and drink sake in the meantime, and then Kintoki and Shinsuke will bond over Kagura!~ What could possibly go wrong?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1st drawing by my bestest friend [Trifo](https://trifoliumac.tumblr.com/) whom I love veri much <3


End file.
